You might recall last week, when Angela gave you a glimpse inside the world of muddy obstacle courses with her guest post on the Dirty Girl event. Well, Alisha Perkins -- runner, race organizer. T.C. Bear hugger and wife of Twins reliever Glen Perkins -- decided she needed a turn in the spotlight as well. We offered her some space to talk about the Fifteens 5K, a fundraiser for cystic fibrosis she and Glen put on this past Sunday. We had no idea she would also provide the intimate details of a half marathon she ran on Saturday, but we are hardly upset!

Alisha?

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I told myself when I started blogging on www.runlikeam0ther.com that I would be totally honest with my readers about my running adventures -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- and this weekend I had a little bit of each. Brace yourselves.

My weekend started with a half marathon called "Gopher to Badger" in which the goal is to run from Stillwater to Hudson. I mean, who doesn't want to run across a state border? Unbeknownst to me, the course was rather hilly, boring and to top it off there was one -- count them ONE – bathroom over the 13.1 mile course. I don't mean to be mean but really: ONE BATHROOM for over 800 people?! Needless to say, I entered the "official marathon club" Saturday when at mile 11, while crossing the St. Croix bridge with water flowing underneath it happened -- and not in the Phil Mackey #itshappening way. What I mean to say is I peed my pants. Yes, a 29-year-old woman after downing water and running for 11 miles with no bathroom in sight just let it go. The only saving grace was that I was already sweaty so you could not tell -- and the end of the race was at the Hudson beach so I immediately jumped in the water after. But as Billy Madison once said... "Everyone my age pees their pants. It's the coolest!"... So I guess I'll stick with that :) My weekend then took another wet turn when I was brought to the brink of tears of joy on Sunday while my husband Glen (Minnesota Twins reliever #15) and I hosted the first annual Fifteens 5K for Cystic Fibrosis. The idea for the race came about on one of my longs runs. I just had so many creative ideas after running so many races and wanted to do one of our own races for a cause that is very important to us. I was the brains and Glen was the face and has the connections (don't tell him that).
We have two friends with kids who have CF and wanted to do something to help. After many months of planning, organizing, brainstorming, creating, and just plain working our butts off we pulled together with amazing sponsors (Diversity, #PMKI, KS95, ESPN1500, Minnesota Twins, RBC, and Northwestern Mutual) and partnered with Twin Cities in Motion to put on what I thought was one of the best 5Ks of the summer. Not only did you get autographs from players (including a certain #7) but you ran a great course where you were cheered on by Vikings Cheerleaders and mascots, you jammed to some awesome music at the start and finish, you got an amazing medal and it was all for a GREAT cause! To all who ran, volunteered, organized, cheered, donated, and prayed for this event: To say thank you would not be enough. When Glen and I decided to do this we had no idea how much you would all affect us. You blew us away. Your stories validated why we did this. Your legs and lungs showed us your strength and your hearts showed us people can make a difference. We knew we were doing a good thing but had no idea how much it would change us. We are eternally grateful to each and every one of you for making this possible. Without you, Sunday would've just been another day. Keep cheering for the Twins and keep fighting for a cure for CF -- they are so close and yesterday you got them closer! And keep running because we will be back next year, bigger and better than this year. P.S.: To find out if I can keep my pants dry in my future races you can read my blog at www.runlikeam0ther.com and follow my on twitter @runlikeam0ther.